


The Truth About Taani

by BornWeird



Category: Dil Dosti Dance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 18:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12463059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornWeird/pseuds/BornWeird
Summary: Taani has had it with her brother's friends treating her like she's less than. But will losing her finally cause them to realize that there's more to their uptight GS that they could ever imagine?





	1. My True Friends

As VP sir leaves the projector room, aka the World War III zone, Taani continues yelling at the dance team for their carelessness and lack of seriousness and effort towards NDC, aka the National Dance Championship.

"Enough Taani! Stop treating us like slaves," yells Sharon. "You're our GS, not some princess."

Taani smirks when Sharon says this, causing Swayam to slap his forehead. "You don't anything about me Miss Rai Prakash," snarls Taani, coming face to face with Sharon. "And you know what, I honestly don't care if you guys win NDC anymore. If you guys lose, then it'll be your own faults. Maybe then you'll finally learn to take responsibility for your actions."

"Listen Taani -" Simmi starts to say, but Taani beats her to it.

"No, you listen! You guys blamed  _me_  for Sharon resigning from her post right? Well new flash, your precious diva Sharon was too caught up in her own little world to notice something as simple as our  _entry forms_. But instead of blaming  _her_ , you blamed  _me_! Somehow, Sharon ended up becoming the victim, and as usual,  _I_  was the bad guy. If I'm not mistaken, you fearless leader over here has been the cultural secretary of this college for  _three_  years, so therefore, she should receive severe punishment for making silly mistakes like this. But me, even with only a  _year_  of experience, I have to listen to all this shit about making silly mistakes, and please do tell me which ones I've made because I'd love to know, even though I have less experience. Where's the freaking logic here?"

Then she turns to Sharon, eyes red and blazing with anger. "And Sharon, I thought that you were more mature than this. How can you not see that your team is being over-confident and that this is only going to affect our college? Oh right, your ego! The size of your ego is much too big for you to see that what your friends are doing is wrong, am I right?"

"Taani enough! How dare you say that to Sharon?!" shouts Swayam, as he, in a fit of rage, raises his hand to slap her, only to be stopped by someone punching him, most likely dislocating his jaw.

And who was the brave soul to punch him right in front of his friends? Why Taani's best-friend Arjun Malhotra of course!

"Don't you dare touch her!" he growls, clearly pissed off. He looks at Taani who's being held by Disha, her other best-friend, due to the fact that she nearly fell because she was so shocked that her big brother would actually try to hit her.

"How dare you try to slap her?!" he demands, grabbing Swayam's collar. Disha leaves Taani's side, instantly standing by Arjun's.

"Let go of him Juno," she says calmly. Arjun wants to protest, but seeing the firm look that Disha had in her eyes, he unwillingly lets go of Swayam. Swayam breathes out a sigh of relief, but that doesn't last too long with Disha now standing toe to toe with him. "Don't be so relieved Swayam Shekhawat because I am just as pissed as he is right now. I can't believe that you tried to slap Taani of all people! Your Taanu, your baby sister... and for who?"

She gestures towards Sharon. "The girl who's broken your heart more times than even Einstein can count?"

She then points to Rey. "The guy who broke your sister's heart and made her cry multiple times?"

She finally sends a threatening death glare towards the dance team. "Or your so-called friends over there who are about as loyal as Tasmanian Devils?"

She turns her attention back to Swayam, "You tried to slap the girl who's always been there for you for  _them_?!"

"Not only has she always been there for you, but she's always put your happiness before hers. And let's not forget all the trouble she'd get into just to support and defend you," adds Arjun.

Now Sharon being her usual, short-tempered self, was pissed off by the fact that two random strangers thought that they could just waltz in here and get away with insulting her boyfri - _friend_ , so she steps in front of him, narrowing her eyes at Disha. "Listen whoever you are, this does not concern you, so just get the hell out of here!"

Disha glares at Sharon. "Yes, it does concern us Miss Sharon _jeet_  Rai Prakash. If this matter has anything to do with  _our_ best-friend, then yes, it does concern us."

Rey then comes forward, causing Disha to snap her head in his direction. "Enough okay! Who the hell do think you are just walking in here and insulting my best-friends? You know what, you are such a -" Rey doesn't get to finish that sentence due to Arjun grabbing him by his shirt collar and looking ready to knock him unconscious.

"Finish that sentence and Swayam won't be the only one walking out of here with a dislocated jaw."

Normally Disha would yell at him for something like this and tell him that she's not some damsel in distress, but this wasn't the best situation for that. She then gently places her hand top of Arjun's and has him let go of Rey's shirt collar. She gives him a reassuring look and turns to face Rey.

"Unless you want to die at the age of twenty-two, you really shouldn't be talking right now. And where was this protective attitude when your friends were insulting your then-girlfriend? You know, the one you claimed to be oh-so in love with."

Taani finally stops crying and is about to say something, when she sees Swayam shaking his head. "Rey needs to hear this," he mouths. Taani's confused by her brother's actions, so she turns her head back to Disha and Rey.

"What I want to know is that if you loved Taani as much as you claimed to, then why was she always your last priority?" demands Arjun, sending an accusing glare Rey's way. "If you can be the best dancer, the best AGS, the best- _friend_ , then why not the best boyfriend? Or at least an  _adequate_  boyfriend. All Taani ever wanted to do was spend some quality time with you. Was that really too much to ask?"

Disha rolls her eyes. "Oh please! This idiot was ready to break up with Taani to save his friendship with Swayam. Yes, I know that Taani would've grudgingly supported this for their sake, but do you seriously think that Rey actually thought about her and how she might feel?"

"Excuse me!" yells Sharon, coming in front of Rey, lightly shoving Disha. "Rey was hiding his identity as a dancer, something that is literally the most important part of him, from Swayam's dad just so that he can accept his and Taani's relationship."

"Oh wow, what a sacrifice!" exclaims Disha, rolling her eyes while clapping loudly and dramatically. She smiles at Sharon sweetly and speaks to her in such a tone that clearly expresses that she is one hundred percent done with her attitude. "Sharon, you really should give up this whole dancing thing. You've got a  _much_  better chance at becoming a lawyer. All your life, all you've done is defend Rey, and now Swayam, and I'm assuming you're going to do more of that in the future, so you might as well make a career out of it right? Besides, Sharonjeet Rai Prakash the lawyer sounds so much better than Sharon Rai Prakash the dancing diva! What say?"

Sharon looks like she's about to pop a blood vessel by now. "You - you - bitch! How dare you? And Sharonjeet..." Sharon struggles to find her words, unable to form proper sentences.

"Just what the hell do you think of yourself?" she continues, hoping to say something to shut this girl up once and for all. "You're - you're - such a brat! Bloody bade baap ki bigdi hui beti!" Disha's face goes pale at Sharon's words, as Taani, Arjun, and Swayam's eyes go wide, but Sharon was on a roll. She fakes a smile, bouncing back from the flustering mess that she was a mere seconds ago.

"Oops, sorry. Your dad disowned you, didn't he? Smart guy no?" Sharon sees a tear slide down Disha's cheek, which she obviously tries to hide with her hair, immediately making her feel bad, but Sharon's ego was much too large for her to stop.

"Aw, is the entitled little brat hurt?"

While that may have been a smart thing to say in Sharon-land, it was certainly not the best for this situation. Sharon realized that when Taani, who had clearly had enough of Sharon hitting her best-friend right where it hurts, gave her a hard slap on the cheek. Sharon is beyond shocked that Taani Shekhawat of all people just slapped her, but no one's more shocked than the dance team, minus Swayam.

"Taani, did you just slap Sharon?" they demand.

"Yes! Do you guys seriously think that I'm just going to let Miss Sharon Rai Prakash get away with insulting my best-friend? No freaking way! I know that loyalty is kind of a foreign concept to you guys, but if you mess with my friends, then you mess with me. I'm surprised that you guys weren't aware of this until now. I mean, once upon a time, I did consider you all to be my friends. God,  _what_ was I thinking?!"

She turns her attention to Sharon and gives her a disappointed look. "Sharon, I treated you like you were my sister, my big sister! I admired you in all your confident glory, but right now, after what I just witnessed and the way you've been behaving... I am embarrassed by the fact that I ever aspired to be like you!"

She then turns her attention to her brother and looks at him in disbelief. "Bhai, you're no better. I just can't believe you! I've always thought that I was able to turn to you the way that you'd always turn to me. But apparently this relationship of ours, brother and sister, just involves me being the sister. And don't give me that look because you know damn well that you haven't been my brother ever since this whole Taani versus the world thing started!"

She finally diverts her attention towards Rey. "And you Rey? Anya was so right about you. If I had only I listened to her, but no! I just had to fall in love with you. I'm such an idiot! She warned me about you, what you're like, but I was so in love with you that I didn't even bother listening to her. How could I forget that all dancers are the same? The only thing they're good at, other than dancing, _of course_ , is hurting people."

She wipes away her tears, and runs out of the projector room and into the corridor, with Disha and Arjun following her.

When Arjun and Disha finally catch up to Taani, Arjun grabs her by the arm, panting. "Yo, Barry Allen, where the hell the do you think you're going?"

"Home."

"And what are going to do after that?" asks Disha, putting her hands on her hips.

"Packing."

"What, why?" Arjun and Disha ask in unison. They look at each other as they do so, like deer caught in headlights, completely and utterly weirded out by being on the same page.

Taani looks back and forth between her two best friends. "I don't know, maybe I'll jump off a bridge or something." Arjun and Disha snap their heads back in Taani's direction. Looking at their faces, Taani chuckles. "Just joking. I'm going back to Jodhpur."

Disha puts her arm around her best-friend and informs her, "Babes, you're going home to pack, but you're not going to Jodhpur. I'm taking you to my place."

"But Dishu -" Taani starts to protests, but Disha cuts her off.

"No ifs, ands, or buts... and don't call me Dishu."

"But mamaji -" Taani starts to protest again, but an extremely irritated Disha cuts her off again and says, while shaking her shoulders, "DUDE! Chill. Uncle's gone out of town right?" Taani nods her head yes. "Toh jab wapas aaenge, tabki tab dekhenge."

"Disha, did you just watch FALTU or something? Tabki tab dekhenge," says Taani, mimicking that last part.

"That's not the point! The point here is that uncle already had a problem with you staying with Swayam, so he won't have a problem with you staying with me."

Taani takes a deep breath and exhales. Then she smiles at her best friends. "You guys are the best!" Arjun and Disha are delighted to see their best-friend smile after so long, but Arjun decides that they could do better.

He says, "I mean, I don't know about Disha, but I'm definitely the best." He winks at her, and Taani bursts out laughing.

Disha, on the other hand, is  _not_  amused by this. "Arjun you bloody - I am going to kill you!" she yells, running after him, which isn't too easy since her heels are at least three inches tall. Taani giggles and starts to run after them, thanking her Krishnaji for bringing these two creatures into her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although the story is mainly in English, I did add a few phrases in Hindi, and I don't usually do that, but they just fit, so I'm sorry.
> 
> "Bade baap ki bigdi hui beti" is a saying in India which people say to describe a girl who is a spoiled brat because her dad is rich.
> 
> "Mamaji" means maternal uncle in Hindi.
> 
> "Toh jab wapas aaenge, tabki tab dekhenge" means "when he comes back, then we'll worry about it, and it's also from the Bollywood movie FALTU, hence the reference.


	2. My Mistakes

As Vicky, Nilesh, Bharat, and Simmi continue bitching about Taani and her friends, the others start to get a little irritated.

Finally, Sharon snaps. "Enough guys! What -" She doesn't get to finish her sentence due to her asthma kicking in. She starts coughing hysterically and runs out of the projection room with every intention of heading to the girls' locker room, not noticing the fact that Rinni was following her.

Luckily for Sharon, no one was really in the locker room when she arrived. She opened her locker and took three breaths from her inhaler, not knowing that Rinni was there.

"Sharon?" Rinni's voice rings out.

Sharon turns around.

"Rinni?"  _Oh shit!_  she thinks.

Rinni walks over to Sharon, looking confused. "Sharon, you have asthma and you didn't even think to tell me? I'm your best friend! Didn't you think that it was important to tell me something like this?"

"Rinni, I'm really sorry!" stammers Sharon, now feeling extremely guilty. "I only told Simmi, but then Swayam found out accidentally, and Rey doesn't even know about this, and -"

"Sharon, it's okay. Just breathe. I don't want you getting another attack."

Sharon breathes in and out a couple times and calms down. Once Rinni sees that she's calmed down a little, she asks, "Do you need a ride home? You didn't bring your car today so I was just wondering."

"You're going home?"

Rinni sighs. "Yeah. Honestly, Sharon, I'm done listening to all this bitching about Taani. I admit, my behavior towards her wasn't exactly the best, but I'm beginning to realize that she was right about us not being serious about NDC, about us being too over-confident. Although she didn't have to be so rude and strict about it, we didn't have to show her all that attitude either."

Rinni starts to walk away, but as she's at the entrance, she turns around and adds, "Think about what you've heard today Sharon."

Once Rinni leaves, Sharon sits down on one of the benches, everyone's words echoing in her head.

_"If you guys lose, then it'll be your own faults. Maybe it'll teach you to take responsibility for your actions."_

_"Too caught up in her own little world to notice something as simple as our entry forms."_

_"If I'm not mistaken, Sharon has been the cultural secretary of this college for three years. So therefore, she should receive severe punishment for making silly mistakes like this."_

_"And Sharon, I thought that you were more mature than this. How can you not see that the team is being over-confident and that this is going to affect the college? Oh right, your ego! The size of your ego is much too big for you to see that what your friends are doing is wrong, am I right?"_

_"I admired you and I looked up to you, but right now, after what I just witnessed and the way you've been behaving... I am embarrassed by the fact that I ever aspired to be like you!"_

Sharon puts her head in her hands, and then jumps in the air as realization finally hits her. "They're right! They're  _all_  right. How could I have not realized this up until now? Oh, that's right, my ego, and on top of that, my own personal drama. God, when did I become so self-centered?"

She then remembers that tear sliding down Disha's cheek and bites her lip. "I shouldn't have talked to her like that. Taani did the right thing by slapping me, I would've done the same."

With that, Sharon walks over to the projection room, only to stop at the entrance when she hears shouting. And for once, it's not Nilesh, Vicky, Bharat or Simmi complaining about Taani.

"Everybody shut up!" she hears Swayam yell. "Today, because of you guys, I almost slapped my baby sister. But it's also my fault. Instead of supporting her, I listened to you guys and let you convince me that she was wrong. Thank you so much guys!" With that, he walks out of the projection room, not noticing Sharon.

Sharon looks back at her friends, and she can see that Amar wants to say something, but instead, he walks out of the room and follows Swayam, also not noticing her.

Vicky, Nilesh, Bharat, and Simmi continue their ranting as if nothing happened, and Rey looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel.

"Enough guys! You've been lectured all day, but you still don't understand anything? You've been repeating the same word over and over again! Non-dancer. Don't you guys get sick of it? Well you know what? Taani might not be as great as you guys when it comes to dancing, but she's a much better person than you'll ever be." He walks out of the projection room, not noticing Sharon.

But three out of the four still don't get it. Vicky, Bharat, and Simmi just keep going on and on about how Taani wronged them, while Neha and Aashi look about as pissed of as Rey and Swayam did. Even Nilesh looks irritated by their behavior at this point.

That's when Sharon finally loses it!

She marches into the projection room, adrenaline running high. "Enough guys! Swayam, Rey, Taani... everyone gave you these huge speeches, yet you can't manage to drill one simple fact through your thick skulls! I admit that her rudeness was unnecessary, but she just wanted what's best for us. If it wasn't for Taani, we wouldn't even be  _participating_ in NDC. I admit that I went against Taani as well, but only because I was blinded by my ego and my own problems. And she's damn right! We're way too over-confident. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of toddlers come and beat us. But guys, you have brains of your own too right? Just because I didn't agree with Taani's point of view at the time, doesn't mean that you guys need to share my point of view as well. You guys should old and mature enough to understand things like this. People shouldn't have to explain it to you over and over again. So just - grow up and stop acting like a bunch of losers."

Sharon furiously stomps out of the projection room with Neha and Aashi following her. They don't even bother yelling at their friends. Like Sharon said, they should be old and mature enough to understand these things themselves. And eventually, Nilesh walks out of the room as well, leaving his friends to ponder over their actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Musical Inspiration: Enemies by Shinedown


	3. New Friends, New Beginnings

"Are you sure your roommate won't have a problem with me living with you guys?" Taani asks for what feels like the hundredth time.

Disha lets out an exasperated sigh. "For the last time Taani, Aditi will not have a problem with you living here."

As Disha rifles through her bag to find her house keys, Arjun assures Taani, "I've known Aditi forever; she's friendly, and she's always open to meeting new people. So just relax, take a deep breath, and be your wonderful crazy self."

"Alright."

"And look on the bright side, if she can learn to love the epitome of bitchiness that is Disha Shergill, she will literally hug you after one conversation."

"Go to hell," snaps Disha, before opening the door to her apartment.

When the trio walks into the apartment, Arjun immediately exclaims, "Whoa, PDA!"

"Guys, the bedroom is literally three feet away," groans Disha. "Do you really have to make out on my couch?"

" _Our_  couch," stresses Disha's roommate Aditi, pulling away from her boyfriend.

"Ugh, the pain of having your big brother date one of your best friends," Arjun groans in disgust, trying to get what he saw out of his head. "Seriously, I've known this girl since our diaper days."

"Why can't you just move in with him?" Disha asks, as if she were actually in pain.

"Wow Disha, after all this time, I still haven't grown on you," Aditi says dramatically, as if she were actually offended.

"Are you kidding me?" says Taani, finally speaking up. "I'm her best friend, and it took her years to learn to how to tolerate me.  _Tolerate_!"

"Um, you weren't exactly the easiest person to get along with," Disha reminds her.

"Please, I got along with everyone."

"No, you were a terrifying bitch." Taani sends Arjun a death glare that makes him wish that he had never spoken in the first place.

"Uh, care to introduce your friend?" asks Aditi, standing up.

"Right, sorry!" says Disha. "Guys, this is Taani."

"And Taani, this is Aditi," says Arjun, gesturing to the girl sitting on the couch.

"Ahem, forgetting someone?" asks the guy who was sucking face with Aditi a mere second ago.

"Oh, and this is my brother, but he's not important."

The guy throws a pillow at Arjun, getting up. He smiles at Taani and introduces himself. "Hi, I'm Raghav."

"Oh, so you're the poor soul that has the misfortune of being Arjun's big brother."

"I like this girl," says Raghav, turning towards his brother and pointing his thumb at Taani.

"Aw, thanks! But apparently no one really likes me. At least, according to your brother."

"Well, my brother's an idiot."

"Um, hello? I'm right here!" Arjun says dramatically.

"Drama queen," the others mutter.

"I hate every single one of you," growls Arjun.

"Yeah, I don't really like repeating myself," drawls Disha.

"Agreed," says Taani, giving Disha a slight nod.

"I'll drink to that," says Raghav, most likely serious about that drink.

"You're a drama queen, deal with it," Aditi deadpans.

"God, I am actually starting to miss the good old days when you guys didn't know each other," Arjun complains.

"You mean five minutes ago?" asks Raghav.

"Yup!" he says, bouncing onto the couch to lie down.

"Hey, don't bounce on the couch like that!" shouts Aditi. "You'll ruin the springs."

"And get your disgusting shoe-covered feet off of our couch!" exclaims Disha, smacking his legs with a pillow. "The least you could do is show some respect and take your shoes off before you enter the house."

"Alright, alright," says Arjun, getting up. "When the hell did you two turn into such cranky old grannies?" Aditi and Disha both glare at him. Seeing them glare, Arjun widens his eyes and begins to run away, with the girls chasing after him.

Meanwhile, Taani and Raghav sit down on the couch. "You do realize that your brother is a dead man right?" asks Taani.

"I'm already planning his funeral," says Raghav, watching as his crazy girlfriend and her roommate try to kill his brother.

"Ooo, we should have marigolds at the funeral!"

"Because they're bright and cheerful?"

"No, because he's allergic to them."

"You know, I really like the way your brain works."

"Thank you. And he has his own credit card right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing major. I'm just going to use his credit card to pay for my funeral outfit."

"Oh, we could also use it for our 'Have Fun in the Afterlife Arjun!' party."

"And here I thought  _I_  was pure evil!"

"A little help here!" exclaims Arjun, jumping over Taani and Raghav.

"Those two are literally half your size, how have you not outrun them yet?" asks a bewildered Raghav.

"They're women who were told that they're turning into old grannies. You'd be surprised to see just how persistent we can be."

"Less talking, more helping!" exclaims Arjun, grabbing a cricket bat to defend himself.

"Why the hell do they have a cricket bat lying around?" asks Taani. "Should I be scared?"

"Nah, you'll be fine," Raghav assures her. "It's used for situations like these."

"Seriously?!" demands Arjun, as he's being cornered by Aditi and Disha. "Stay back! I have a cricket bat."

"I have Disha's highest, skinniest, and not to mention,  _pointiest_  heels," says Aditi, waving the heels in front his face.

"I have nails," says Disha, showing Arjun her claws - er, nails.

"Okay, how about we call a truce? I'll make some of my famous noodles..."

Aditi and Disha glance at each other. "Fine, you're off the hook," says Aditi, throwing Disha's shoes aside.

Arjun breathes a sigh of relief, thinking he's off the hook... until Disha grabs him by the collar of his shirt. "But if you  _ever_  make a snarky comment like that again, I will rip your eyes right out of their sockets."

"And then I'll throw you in a ditch and bury you alive," adds Aditi. Arjun looks like a deer caught in headlights, up until the point where Disha decides to let him go.

"They never do," mutters Ragahv, causing Arjun to slap him upside the head as he walks over to the kitchen.

"Oh, and by the way, just because you boil some Maggi Noodles, and put in hot sauce, soy sauce and seasoning powder instead of the regular stuff in the packet, doesn't make them your famous noodles," Taani points out.

"Shut up!" Arjun shouts from the kitchen, ready to waste all of two minutes of his life to ruin a perfectly nice packet of Maggi Noodles.

"I still don't get the big fuss about these noodles," says Taani, as she watches Aditi and Disha wolf down their noodles like animals.

"You and me both honey," says Raghav, pushing away his bowl of noodles. He then gets up, and says to his brother, "We need to get home Juno, otherwise, mom's going to have a heart attack."

"True that," says Arjun, getting up. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

Raghav kisses Aditi goodbye, as Arjun hugs Taani and sends Disha one of his famous 'take care of her' looks, causing her to roll her eyes, but still give him a slight nod of assurance in return.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" says Aditi, closing the door.

"Alright, see you at work," says Raghav, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek one last time.

The minute Aditi closes the door, Disha disgustedly groans, "You two are sickeningly sweet."

"Dish!" exclaims Taani, slapping her friend upside the head.

"You know you love me!" jokes Aditi.

"Yeah, yeah."

Aditi rolls her eyes, turning to Taani. "Okay so, sleeping arrangements. This is a one bedroom apartment, and Disha and I have a queen bed that we share. But, our couch is a fold out couch, so you can sleep on that. I hope that's okay with you."

"Yes, that is totally fine!" says Taani, giving Aditi a big smile. "Thank you so much for being cool with me moving in like this."

"Hey, it's no problem. As long as you're not a slob, and you don't eat all the food, you're good in my books."

"Oh, then you have nothing to worry about!" Disha informs her roommate. "Taani enjoys cleaning, and she'll be probably be feeding  _you_  rather eating herself."

"Correction, I clean when I'm stressed."

"Well, you'll still be doing more than I do around here."

"She's right," says Aditi, nodding her head in agreement. "This place was a pigsty before I came. You couldn't even see the floor!"

"That sounds like Disha. Me, her and our friend Anya used to be roommates at boarding school, and as much as we loved Disha, we basically kicked her out."

"On the plus side, I got a single room."

"Which we all referred to as 'The Forest of Decay' in case you forgot," Taani reminds her, shuddering as the memories begin to flood.

"Dang, now I'm really glad to have you here!"

"Hey!"

"Oh you know I love you," Aditi calls out to her, as she goes into the bedroom.

"Good night!" Taani calls after her.

"Don't bother, she probably passed out already."

"Okay. Well, good night Dish."

"You sure you can get the foldout couch to work on your own?"

"Yes! Now go to bed."

"Okay, mom," Disha groans, heading towards her room, as Taani fixes her bed and dozes off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raghav and Aditi are 100% my OCs.
> 
> Music Inspiration: I'll Be There For You by The Remembrandts (aka, the Friends theme song)


	4. Crazy Ass-Backward Family

For the first time in forever, the Shergill-Khurana apartment actually smells good. No kitchen fires, no burnt food... just the delicious aroma of probably the best, most edible meal cooked in that poor kitchen.

And no, Arjun's 'special noodles' don't count as an actual meal.

"Dang, what smells so good?" asks Aditi, still half-asleep.

"20 rupees says that it's Taani," challenges Disha, an evil glint present in her eye.

"Hell no!" exclaims Aditi, suddenly more awake. "I am not agreeing to a bet that I know I'm going to lose."

"Ugh, buzz kill. You know, you were a lot more fun when I first met you."

"You mean back when I was an innocent, wide-eyed dreamer who had no idea how to survive in this cruel, cruel world?"

"Yup!" says Disha, stealing a waffle from the kitchen.

"Get your grubby hands off of that waffle Disha Shergill!" warns Taani. Disha reluctantly puts the waffle back on the plate and pouts, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't pout, it doesn't suit a woman your age."

"Bitch!" yells Disha, smacking her best friend's arm. "And don't you dare quote The Vampire Diaries! That's my thing."

"Which you stole from Sanaya."

"Shut up!"

"Don't be rude to our roommate!" Aditi calls out from the kitchen table, where she was sitting with her laptop already in front of her.

"You shut up too!"

Aditi removes her eyes from her laptop screen and looks at Taani. "Can we please get rid of her?"

"Trust me, I get tempted to do that practically every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of my life! But alas, we must not give into temptation, for it will be our undoing."

"Shakespeare?"

"Taani Bakshi, actually," Taani says playfully, setting a plate of French toast down in front her.

"Waffles are for Disha," she explains, placing a plate of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries in front of Disha.

"A waffle tower with whipped cream and strawberries?" exclaims Disha. "I take back everything I said! You're amazing and I love you!" Aditi watches in amusement as Disha treats her breakfast as if it's the holy grail.

"You must be really good at making waffles."

"Best way to get her to shut the hell up and appreciate you for a good five minutes."

"Noted."

"Hello? Right here," says Disha.

"So?" Taani and Aditi say at the same time, causing Disha to grumble something about 'horrible friends' and 'duct tape,' as she puts her plate away.

"I can't believe she finished that so fast," mumbles Aditi.

"That's because she skips the chewing part of the eating process, and heads straight to the swallowing part of it."

"Oh, so I can cross 'find out how Disha Shergill eats as fast as Milkha Singh runs' off my bucket list."

"Why would that even be on your bucket list in the first place?"

"I'm weird."

"Ooo, same!"

Taani then looks at her new roommate's laptop curiously and asks, "So what are you working on?"

"Ugh, stupid accounts!" Aditi groans in frustration.

Taani raises an eyebrow at Aditi, prompting her to explain. "See, we don't have anyone looking over our finances and all the boring stuff for the music company. Usually Raghav's the one handling this crap, but recently he's just been really busy meeting with other companies, and stars, and new artists. And since he doesn't trust Disha or Arjun to handle this stuff -"

"Which is totally unfair!" Disha calls from the kitchen.

"- that leaves me to handle all this. I told my idiot boyfriend that I can't do this shit, but does he listen to me? No!"

"Okay, calm down, let me see." Taani then sits down and turns the laptop to face her. She takes a look at Aditi's laptop, and exclaims, "Oh, I got this!" Five minutes later, she turns the laptop around for Aditi to see. "Ta-da!"

Aditi's eyes widen as she sees what Taani has done. She engulfs Taani into a tight hug and screams, "Taani, you are amazing!"

"Wait why is Taani amazing?" asks Disha, leaning in from behind to take a look at Aditi's laptop. "Aside from, you know, the obvious."

"Because she managed to figure out how to do this bullshit that the devil himself invented, specifically to torture my poor innocent soul."

"Oh, the accounts?" says Disha, causing Taani to look at her as if she's grown another head. She's about to ask how Disha was able to know what in the world Aditi was talking about, but then remembers that they've been roommates for quite a while.

"Well duh!" exclaims Disha, causing Taani to break out of her thoughts. "She's grown up watching both her grandfathers and uncles, and now her cousins, run their respective, successful, multi-million dollar businesses. And on top of that, she's freakishly good with numbers, not to mention a business major."

"And you didn't think to mention this to us when we asked you if you knew anyone who can help us with some of our more office-related things?" demands Aditi, a little annoyed because she had been struggling with this new job for weeks now.

"Hey, Arjun didn't mention it either!"

"That's because we didn't ask him. Plus, his choice of friends is questionable. Apart from you two of course."

"That's true."

Taani looks back and forth between her two new roommates. "The lack faith you guys have in Juno is actually so sad." Aditi and Disha look at each other, and simply shrug their shoulders.

"So Taani, would you be willing to take this job at our company? I mean, obviously I have to talk to Raghav about it first... but there is no  _way_ that he's going to say no to this!"

"Well, I do need a job if I'm going to help you guys pay rent for this apartment. But I don't think it's fair for me to get this job just like that. I'm not even fully qualified, I'm only a student."

"Um, hell yeah it's fair!" exclaims Disha, shutting down any excuses Taani could come up with for not taking the job. "You know your shit. You know the business world better than any of us. Plus, you're persuasive, charming, and cutthroat when need be."

"You're perfect for this job Taani!" says Aditi, backing up Disha. "I know that Raghav has done wonders with this company, but he doesn't know the business world all that well, at least not yet. You could be a major asset to our company."

" _And_ ," Disha adds, "it's a freaking music company Tans! You live and breathe music. I don't know what other job you could possibly want over this one."

"Okay, okay! You guys win!" exclaims Taani, throwing her hands up in surrender. "I'll take the job _if_ Raghav is willing to hire me. So, no special treatment or anything. I don't want you guys to pressure him into hiring me. And by you guys, I really mean Disha."

"Hey!"

"Bottom line is, Raghav shouldn't feel have to feel like he  _has_  to hire me. If I get the job, it should be on fair grounds."

"Ugh, damn you and your morals!"

"Shut up Disha," Taani and Aditi both groan at once.

"That's it, I'm moving out!"

"You move out like every other day. Which is basically just you putting random crap in your bag, heading to that café nearby, and then coming back like an hour later."

"Oh, she still does that?"

"Wait, she's done something like this before?"

"Oh yeah! When we were roommates during our first year at boarding school, you know, before me and Anya kicked her out and she ended up in the forest of decay, Disha would always say 'I'm moving out!' in full-out drama queen mode, and end up hanging out in the library until the librarian kicked her out for disturbing the other students and behaving like a crazy person."

"Oh my god, the owner of the café actually does the same thing! He kicked her out of the cafe because she was scaring all his customers away."

"Then why the hell does he let her keep coming back?"

"Because she scares the crap out of him!"

Both girls are hysterical at this point, laughing to their heart's content, prompting Disha to shout, "Haan haan, has lo!" and then mumble something about posting an ad for a new roommate. Taani and Aditi look at the look on Disha's face, and then back at each other. They just can't stop laughing this morning!

"I'm asking your future mother-in-law if I can live with her," Disha tells Aditi.

"Oh have fun, we're cool here," Aditi says cheerfully.

"Bitches."

"Well, too bad because you and the 'bitch' are going to have some roomie bonding time today."

"You're leaving me alone with her?"

"Sorry, I got family to visit today."

"Wait, which one?"

"The crazy ass-backward one."

"Ah, so the devil's side of the family."

"She means my dad's side," Taani clarifies for Aditi. Aditi simply nods, not wanting to pry about Taani's daddy issues. Not  _yet_ at least.

"Well, have fun!" says Aditi, smiling at her.

"Thanks," says Taani, heading to the bedroom where her suitcase was... so the only bedroom in the apartment.

Once Taani's closed the door, Disha remarks, "We're going to be staying up pretty late tonight."

"Why?" asks Aditi, hoping that her roommate wasn't planning on having a repeat of the 'tequila incident.' That was a pretty fun night... until it wasn't.

"Well, I know Taani's family, and you can basically make a movie about a day in the life of the great Bakshi family. It's messed up, hilarious and I love it!"

"So is this a situation in which popcorn is necessary?"

"Popcorn, chips, chocolate... and a little alcohol doesn't hurt every now and then."

The minute Aditi hears Disha say the word 'alcohol,' she immediately thinks,  _"This is SO going to be worse than the tequila incident."_

* * *

"Siddhant Modi, if you don't wake up right this second, you are a dead man!" Abhimanyu Modi shouts into his annoying, yet occasionally lovable younger brother's ear.

"Come on idiot!"

Sid sighs, and reluctantly gets up. He lets out a long yawn and groans, "Bhai, why are you waking me up so early? The sun isn't even up yet!"

"Sid, it's nine in the freaking morning," hisses Abhi, gritting his teeth together.

"Well then why aren't you at work?" Abhi glares at him, and begins hitting his brother with a pillow.

"Ugh, bhai stop!" yells Sid, taking the pillow out of Abhi's hands. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Sid, what day is it today?"

"Uh, Wednesday?" says Sid, the answer coming out as more of question since he's actually not sure what day it is. Abhi yanks the pillow out of his brother's hands, and starts hitting him with it again.

"It's Saturday,  _idiot_!" Abhi shouts as he's assaulting his brother with a surprisingly hurtful pillow.

"Okay, can you stop hitting me with the damn pillow?" demands Sid, taking the pillow out of his brother's hands once again, this time throwing it across the room. And before Abhi could reach for any of the other pillows, Sid throws them all on the ground.

"Seriously?" says Abhi, slightly amused by his brother's antics.

"I'm not taking any chances," says Sid, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now, would you please care to explain  _why_  you're waking me up at nine in the morning, on a  _Saturday_?"

Abhi groans. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Bhai, just answer the question! What did I do this time?"

"Well,  _idiot_ , you're late for the longest job that you've ever had."

"Right, you didn't get the memo."

"Did you get fired again?"

"Oh no, I quit."

"What?!"

"I quit."

"Why? This is the longest job you've ever had, and you actually seemed to enjoy it!"

"I know, I know." Sid sighs, and begins to explain the situation. "See, some of the members of the gym tend to get a little too handsy with the trainers, especially me because I'm still pretty young, one of the youngest trainers there actually, and I'm also a newbie. And then when I talked to my boss, he refused to do anything about it, so I quit."

"I am going to shut down that gym and have your boss thrown in jail."

"Bhai," Sid says in that rare warning tone he uses when his brother is getting a little out of hand.

Usually it's the other way around.

"Well it's not right that your employer can get away with doing that! And has he never heard of a little thing called employee safety? Your safety and the safety of your other co-workers should be his main priority, not satisfying the customers. Plus, it's illegal for an employer to disregard the fact that his employees are not working in a safe environment."

"I know bhai, but what can you do?"

"Ruin him."

"It's not worth it bhai. And besides, everyone started to quit after they found out why I quit."

"At least your co-workers have half a brain," remarks Abhi, causing Sid to roll his eyes at his older brother's snarkiness.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Find a job that I actually like, but this time  _with_  a decent employer."

"Or you could always come work for us," the two brothers hear their eldest brother say. Abhi raises his eyebrows at his younger brother as if to say 'why not?'

"Armaan bhai, please don't start," complains Sid, rubbing his temples, already feeling a migraine coming on.

"Alright, fine!" says Armaan, holding his arms up in surrender.

"Are you nagging him about joining the family business again?" demands Armaan's wife Riddhima as she walks into Sid's room.

"I swear to god you have a sixth sense about these things," groans Armaan.

"Well I wouldn't have to if the two of you would just stop bugging him about it," Riddhima points out. "You're relentless! Like... I don't know, cockroaches."

Sid bursts out laughing at this. This is why he loves his sister-in-law. She's always quick to defend him, and she's funny even without trying.

"This can't be my family," they hear Armaan's little brother Samrat mutter from the entrance of Sid's room. "First I get woken up by this constant yelling, and now I hear something about Armaan bhai and Abhimanyu bhaiya being cockroaches. Seriously, what is wrong with this family?"

"It took you twenty-three years to realize that there's something wrong with this family?" asks Riddhima, raising an eyebrow. "I've known this family for eight years, and I've been a part of it four. But since day  _one_ , I knew that everyone here is crazy."

"Hey, if anything, I'm the normal one this family," says Abhi.

"No, you're really not," says Riddhima.

"Yeah, Samrat's the normal one," says Armaan.

"Really? I've always thought that Taani was the normal out of all of us," muses Sid.

"Hell no!" exclaims Abhi. "That girl's got us all beat in the crazy department. She's the mayor, prime minister, president, duchess, empress, queen, and supreme overlord of crazy town, city, state, province, country, continent, world - oh you get the picture!"

"Thanks mere duffer bhai," they all hear a familiar voice say from behind them.

"Taani!" they all scream at once, lunging at the poor girl.

"Um, guys, I need to breathe," Taani struggles to say.

Abhi's the first one to take the hint, as he says, "Hey, idiots, are you  _trying_  to kill our only sister?" The others take the hint and let go of Taani, causing her to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Wow, who knew the idiot could be useful?" says Taani, clearly talking about Abhi.

"That's a nice way to treat your savior," remarks Abhi.

"You're going to hold this whole savior thing over my head for  _at least_  a month, aren't you?"

"Possibly two."

"I hate you."

"I know, hate you too."

"Anyone else feel the love?" asks Riddhima, causing all Bakshi siblings to give her identical 'what planet are you living on?' looks.

"So, why the surprise visit?" asks Samrat.

"Just felt like visiting my amazing big brothers."

"And Abhi," she adds as an afterthought.

Sid raises his eyebrows suspiciously at his younger cousin. "Does this have anything to do with Disha texting me at two in the morning complaining about what a terrible brother and all around human being Swayam is? And how I should go kick your ex-boyfriend's ass? Not to mention, Swayam's friends are an insult to humanity, and a complete waste of space on this lovely planet we like to call Earth?"

"Her exact words, by the way," he then adds, noticing the strange looks that he had been receiving.

"She texted you? What am I saying? Of course she texted you! I tell her, 'Dish, don't tell anyone anything yet, I want to tell them myself,' and then she goes and rants to you about my awful brother, and my jerky ex-boyfriend, and their so-called friends! Who does that?"

"Uh... Disha?" is all Sid can manage to get out. He honestly has no idea how to deal with 'Crazy Taani.' That's usually Abhi's department.

"Calm down crazypants," says Abhi.

"Don't tell a girl to calm down,  _never_ tell a girl to calm!" shouts Taani, glaring at Abhi, practically breathing down his neck.

Abhi doesn't even bat an eyelash.

"And you wonder why you don't have a girlfriend!"

"Ouch," says Armaan, wincing at Taani's words, while Abhi simply rolls his eyes, unaffected by what Taani said.

"Ridzi bhabhi, get all the cheese-related snacks that we have. Samrat, bring the 'Hulk Box.' Armaan bhai, make sure your adorable three-year-old son stays away from this mess. And Sid, give her Mr. Potato Head."

Everyone stares at him blankly.

"Move it idiots!" he shouts, igniting their dead brain cells, causing them all to run in different directions.

The 'Hulk Box' is used whenever one of the Bakshi siblings is mad. Like right now. It's basically a box containing a dart board, a pair of headphones, a pair of goggles and…

A gun.

It was the best outlet for their anger.

Right now, Taani and her brothers, along with Riddhima, were all in the courtyard. They had set up the dart board, Abhi had slapped Sid upside the head when he suggested getting a picture of Swayam and his friends and sticking it on the dartboard, and Taani was shooting her anger away.

Her brother choosing his friends over her: BAM!

Her boyfriend choosing his friends over her: BAM!

Every insult and taunt she'd ever received from the people she'd once considered to be her friends: BAM! BAM! BAM!

Taani lets out a sigh of relief once she's calmed down and feels that her anger has been subdued. For now. She takes off her headphones and goggles and sits down on one of the chairs that had been set up for her.

Riddhima hands her a bag of cheese puffs, one of many cheesy things ready and waiting to be eaten by Taani, while Sid places Mr. Potato Head on her lap.

"So she-hulk, you want to tell us what's going on?" Abhi asks softly. Normally Taani would've snapped at him for calling her she-hulk, but the tone of Abhi's voice stopped her from doing so. It was rare that he used that tone with her.

"Well, first of all, I am now living with Disha in her apartment," Taani begins, waiting for her brothers to explode.

"You're what?!" Armaan, Samrat, and even Abhi yell at once. Sid just looks confused.

"I thought you were living with Swayam," he says.

"Nope, not anymore," says Taani, waiting for the shouting to take place.

"What the hell did he do?!" demands Armaan, as Riddhima adds, "Does this have anything to do with Disha's text-rant to Sid about Swayam? Because Disha loves your brother to pieces, so the only way she could be this mad at him is if he royally screwed up."

"What the hell did he do?!" Armaan practically growls, hearing Riddhima's statement making him even angrier at the young boy.

"It's what he didn't do," Taani struggles to get her words out, all the bad memories flooding back into her brain as she tells her family what's been going on in her life.

To say that they were mad would be an understatement. Armaan looked like he wanted to murder someone, preferably Rey and Swayam. Abhi had his 'I will destroy you' face on, the one that's usually reserved for business rivals and people who mess with those he cares about.

The look he gets right before he's about to destroy someone.

Riddhima probably wanted to light something on fire, most likely and with all of its students in it. Sid broke a tree branch in half, and even Samrat, who was usually the calm one, looked beyond pissed off.

"I am going to kill them," shouts Armaan, about to go off the rails. "I am going to kill them, and then I'm going to bring them back to life so that I can kill them again!"

"I will ruin their lives, they'll have nothing!" Abhi says darkly, his evil mind already formulating multiple plans and scenarios.

Taani cringes. She was afraid of this. She knew what their reaction was going to be, so that's why she wanted to deal with this one her own. Her family's very protective when it comes to one another. Armaan once sent a guy to the hospital for trying to misbehave with his sister. Sure she had the situation handled, she punched the guy in the throat and had him in a headlock, but Armaan didn't care. He went after the guy anyway.

That's not to say that Taani's not protective over her brothers, she can be just as bad as them. She once ruined this one girl's life when she went after Abhi for his money. The girl was trying to trap her brother, who was way too smart to fall for her, and even went as far faking a marriage contract and trying to drug him. Abhi would've handled it eventually, he kind of shrugged it off and didn't think much of it, but Taani wouldn't have any of that. She took a page out of his book and found a way to make sure that the girl lost everything she had. From her job and her family, right down to her favorite teddy bear.

The Bakshi family goes to crazy lengths to look out for one another. They will go to the extremes, no matter what the situation. They would go to the ends of the Earth, they would go to hell and back, they would do anything for each other. Is this a healthy thing to do? For any normal family, probably not. But as we've established, this family isn't a normal family...

It's a crazy ass-backward family.

* * *

"You did what?" Arjun demands when Disha tells him that she texted Sid about Swayam and his friends, as they're entering their workplace, Star Records.

"What else did you expect me to do? It's good thing that I only let Sid know instead of Sagar, otherwise, Swayam would be a dead man by now, and we'd be bailing Sagar out of jail."

"Taani is going to demolish you!" Arjun yells at her, his eyes widening, secretly wondering if Disha had finally gone nuts.

"Do I look a frickin' building to you?"

"Well considering the fact that you're about the size of a minion, no." Disha would've lunged at him and clawed his eyes out right then and there if Aditi hadn't gotten in front of him.

And if Raghav and a few other people hadn't grabbed her from behind to make sure that she didn't end up going to jail for manslaughter.

"Calm down Dish Fish," Raghav gently whispers into her ear. If he were anyone else, Disha would've threatened his safety and that of all his loved ones for calling her Dish Fish. But it's Raghav, so she lets it slide.

Disha lets out a deep breath, causing everyone to let go of her.

"Alright everybody, back to work!" Raghav tells his employees, causing them all to go back to whatever they were doing. After all, this was an everyday occurrence that they were all used to by now.

Raghav then turns to his best friend and younger brother. "Now, what's this about?"

Disha dramatically clears her throat, causing Arjun to roll his eyes. "So you see, Taani specifically told me not to tell anyone about what a pathetic excuse for an older brother Swayam was being, not to mention that his friends are complete idiots."

"And you being  _you_ , told someone," says Aditi, filling in the blanks.

"Precisely."

Arjun looked like he wanted to throttle her.

"That poor girl," Aditi says sympathetically, shaking her head.

Just then, Arjun's phone rings. When Arjun sees who's calling him, he honestly doesn't know what to expect. "Hey Taanu." He glances at Disha and says, "Yeah, Disha just told me what she did and she seems blissfully happy about it, which is weird considering the fact that she knows you'll destroy her when you get home." He then glances at Aditi and says, "Yeah, Aditi's here," before handing the phone to Aditi. "It's for you."

"Hey Taani," says Aditi, confused as to why Taani would want to speak to her.

"Remember how we talked about getting rid of Disha this morning?"

Aditi shuts her eyes and sighs. "Ohhh boy... um, Taani look... you were the one who said all that stuff about not giving into temptation and whatnot, remember?"

"Trust me, I don't mean a lot of what I say, nor do I listen to a lot of what I say, so you shouldn't either."

"Okay, as  _logical_ as that sounds, you love Disha!"

"Right now, I want to see Disha's head on a platter. No one will have to know about this. And I'm sure Arjun will be more than ready and willing to help."

"Okay, Taani, take a deep breath," Aditi instructs, as if talking to a small child. Taani does as she's told. "Good girl. Now, how about you stop thinking about the heinous acts of injustice Disha has committed towards you, and spend some nice quality time with your family. Oh, and don't forget to think happy thoughts. Think. Happy thoughts!"

Aditi hands Arjun's phone back to him who says, "Nice choice of words."

Aditi then turns to Disha and asks, "Do you have a death wish?"

Disha takes a minute or two to actually ponder over the question, and then she finishes with a simple, "I don't know."

Aditi rolls her eyes and turns to Raghav. "Can I talk to you, privately, like in your office?" Hearing the noises Disha and Arjun were making behind her back, she turns to them and sharply states, "Grow up."

Disha and Arjun both snort. "Aditi Khurana telling  _us_  to grow up," says Arjun, raising an eyebrow. "Now that's rich."

Aditi throws a stapler at his head, causing Disha to laugh... until Arjun threw a stack of papers in her direction while gleefully cheering, "Happy cleaning!"

Oh that beautiful moron…

Once they enter Raghav's cabin, Raghav notices that Aditi has her business face on, a face that she only uses when she has a serious matter to discuss.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asks her.

Aditi sighs. "Look, this might not be the best time for me to mention this, but I think that you should really consider Taani as a possible candidate for my job as... basically the entire finance department."

"Okay, why?"

"Well, for one thing, I  _suck_  at this job," Aditi points out to him, as if it should be the first thing that comes to mind. Raghav simply nods for her to continue. "I think Taani would be a great choice for this job. She figured out something I had been struggling with for five days, in five minutes! She's really smart, and I think that she actually knows what she's doing. And according to Disha, she's grown up in the business world, watching the people around run their extremely successful businesses, which would be a good thing for us because no one here really has any knowledge about the business world. I mean, you're pretty much flying blind here! Plus, Taani's a business major herself, so stuff like this should be right up her alley."

Raghav stays silent for what feels like forever. He finally breaks his silence by folding his arms across his chest and asking, "Are you asking me to hire her?"

"Disha and I  _want_  you to hire her, but Taani made it perfectly clear that she wouldn't take the job if we pressured you into hiring her. And, she also wants you to interview her first, look over all of her qualifications and such."

Raghav smiles when he hears this. "Tell her to come in for an interview tomorrow."

Aditi's face lights up at his words. "Seriously?"

Raghav nods and Aditi throws her arms around his neck and gives him a quick peck on the cheek before flouncing away to tell Disha.

* * *

It took three hours, about a hundred compliments directed towards Swayam and his friends, most of which were all lies, and a hose for Taani to get her siblings to calm down.

"Taani, you're -" Taani's Shraddha Chachi begins to say to her, but stops mid-sentence and instead continues to ask, "what the heck happened?!" when she sees her sons, nephews, and daughter-in-law drenched from head to toe.

"They were raging, it was the only way to calm them down," is all Taani says.

Shraddha sighs. "Of course it was." At this point, things like this shouldn't surprise her. After all, she's known since the minute Taani was born, completing this group of siblings, that the children of this household are all insane.

"You five, get cleaned up!" Shraddha commands, and they go off to do as told. She then turns to Taani and says, "You're coming with me." As Taani begins to follow her Chachi, she stops her. "Bring the cheese puffs with you," she says, causing Taani to grin.

Somewhere along the way to the library, Taani and Shraddha had run into Amrita, Taani's bua, One thing led to another, and now the three of them were eating cheese puffs in the corner of the library as Taani told them why her siblings had gotten so worked up.

"I think that Riddhima wanting to burn to the ground is quite justified," says Shraddha.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Abhi ruin people's lives," says Amrita. "I taught my son well."

Taani groans. "I forgot. You two gave birth to those psycho boys, and probably turned Ridzi bhabhi into the psycho girl she is."

"In our defense, Riddhima was always crazy," Amrita points out.

"Yeah, we just made her crazier," adds Shraddha. Taani rolls her eyes as she wonders who the adults are in this situation.

"What's going on in here?" they all hear a deep voice echo throughout the library. The three women are like deer caught in headlights. Amrita tosses the bag of cheese puffs at Shraddha who tosses it to a bewildered Taani.

"Taani," the voice says. Taani cringes as she turns around, but not before glaring at her bua and Chachi.

"Namaste dadaji!" she says as sweetly as possible.

"Are those cheese puffs?"

"Cheese puffs? What cheese puffs?" Taani says nervously, trying to play dumb.

"The ones in your hand, Taani."

Taani looks down at her hand and pretends to be shocked. "Oh, these cheese puffs! Wow, how  _ever_  did those appear in my hands?"

Dharmendra simply gives his granddaughter a look which causes her to slightly bow her head and say, "Sorry dadaji."

As Shraddha and Amrita begin to say something, Dharmendra cuts them off. "I know you two are involved in this as well, so don't even try to defend yourselves."

"Sorry papa," says Amrita, also bowing her head.

"This library contains some of the world's most precious pieces of literature, and you three are in here eating cheese puffs." He walks over to Taani and takes the bag of cheese puffs from her hands. "Please leave."

The three women quickly scurry off, but not before noticing that Dharmendra was actually eating the cheese puffs himself.

Noticing their stares, Dharmendra sternly says, "You saw nothing!"

Just a typical day for the Bakshi family…

* * *

The Bakshi family was having a nice, quiet, peaceful lunch…

Until a loud female voice bellowed, "Hello Bakshi family! The light of your life is here!"

While everyone else chuckles, Sid grumbles, "Lo, aagayi musibat."

The girl, who had heard what Sid said about her, slaps him upside the head. "To this day, I still don't understand what girls see in you."

"Jealous?" Sid mocks playfully, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Concerned about the sanity of my gender is more like it," she fires back without missing a beat.

"Nice!" exclaims Armaan, holding his hand out for a hi-5, which the girl dutifully accepts.

"I learn from the best!" she tells him, while stealing one of Shraddha's famous tuna kebabs off his plate, causing him to shout out in protest, "Hey, Maya!"

"Like I said, I learn from the best," she says, winking at him.

"Maya," Dharmendra tries to sound strict, finding it hard not to chuckle, "give him his food back."

"But dadaji!" Maya whines, walking over to him, getting down on her knees. "See, I already ate half of it, so my germs are all over the other half. And if you want me to give back the half that I already ate, then you'll have to cut open my stomach, and you'll end up with squishy, icky stuff instead of solid food."

"Remind me again why you're not going into politics or law?"

"Ugh, dadaji! Listen, politics and law are bo- _ring_! And a lot of work, and a lot of boring work.  _Dance_ , is fun, also a lot of work, but a lot of  _fun work_."

"But you'd be so good at it!" Maya tears her attention away from Dharmendra and sets her eyes on Taani.

"Talk to your dadaji," she huffs.

"Oh, so  _now_  he's my dadaji?" says Taani, rolling her eyes. "Hadd hai!"

Maya sighs, getting up as she walks over to Taani, wrapping her arms around her, her chin resting on Taani's shoulder. "I missed you."

Taani smiles at her. "I missed you too."

"Stop choking my cousin!" Sid yells from across the table, causing both girls to narrow their eyes at him.

"Bi -" Maya stops what she's about to say when Taani stomps on her foot.

"Listen," Maya corrects herself, "I am a he - whole lot more gentle than you, or any of your brothers for that matter, are, so shut it."

"Maya, as much we all enjoy hearing you insult Sid, why are you here?" asks Abhi, wanting to back to eating his lunch in peace.

"OH! Yeah, right, I almost forgot. Um, so you see, Nikki di received yet another request from the Mehra family about a merger -"

"Oh no!" groans Abhi.

"Oh yes! So she should be here in about... three... two..."

"Abhi!" they all hear Nikki call out, as the click-clack of her heels gets louder and louder, indicating that she was getting closer and closer.

"Now," Maya finishes her thought, pointing in her older sister's direction.

"Abhimanyu Modi!" Nikki walks over to the man whose name she had been shouting.

"Nikita Dutta," says Abhi, causing Nikki to glare at him.

"What the  _hell_  are these?!" she demands, shaking the files in her hands in his face.

"Language!" Dharmendra calls out.

"Ma, what's a hell?" Armaan and Riddhima's son Karan asks his mother.

"Nikki!" Riddhima shrieks at her best-friend.

Nikki turns to Riddhima and nonchalantly says, "The kid watches movies with Sid, he knows what hell means."

She then narrows her eyes at the five-year-old and hisses, "Don't even try to lie to me kid!" At this point, Riddhima doesn't even know who to be mad at.

Nikki turns her attention back to Abhi. "You were supposed to talk the Mehras about this, were you not?"

"I did."

"Then why the  _hell_  did I receive yet  _another_  proposal from the Mehras?" Dharmendra throws his arms up in the air as he hears Nikki swear yet again, giving up on her at this point.

"What, so it's my fault that the Mehras are desperate and can't take no for an answer?"

"Yes! It's  _your_ job to make sure that they know that this merger, is not happening. A job which you are currently failing to do since I keep receiving these goddamn proposals which actually look like they were created by a five-year-old... and that is an actual offense to your nephew over there because I'm pretty sure that even  _he_ can do a better job than these dolts!"

"Well then it's  _your_  job to find someone better suited!"

"I can't find someone better suited, you're the most convincing person I know, so if you can't manage to drill this into the thick skulls of the Mehra Corporation, then we're doomed,  _you idiot_!"

"The way she can both insult him and compliment him at the same time is so very fascinating," remarks Riddhima, with everyone else murmuring in agreement.

"Nikki, honey, calm down and -" Shraddha tells her gently, looking for a way to calm her down when her eyes fall on Armaan's plate, "have a tuna kebab."

"Thank you, auntie," she grumbles, taking the kebab from Shraddha and eating it.

"Why always my tuna kebabs, just why?" demands Armaan. "Sid makes Maya angry, she steals my tuna kebab. Abhi has Nikki frustrated, mom gives her my kebab. WHY?!"

"Armaan," Shraddha says in a warning tone, causing her son to shut up.

"Mama's boy," Abhi teases.

"Abhi," Amrita uses that same warning tone with her son, causing him to shut up as well, and Armaan to give him a triumphant glance. Abhi sneers at his older brother.

Taani rolls her eyes at her brothers' antics and asks her uncle, "Chachu, why do have actual five-year-olds running your company?"

"No offense champ," she later adds, glancing at her nephew.

"Because the only mature one here refuses to run it," Kartik tells his niece pointedly.

"Chachu, I never said that I wouldn't  _join_ the family business, I assure you, I will. But  _after_  I finish my studies."

"Fine," Kartik sighs in defeat.

"She hasn't even told you guys the best part yet," Maya informs them, causing everyone to turn their attention to Nikki.

"Right... did I mention that we've also been invited to their annual gala?" Nikki tells them, causing the entire Bakshi family to groan.

"I hate those things," Sid whines.

"Can we just not go?" suggests Armaan.

"No, we can't just  _not go_!" Samrat exclaims at his brother.

"Yeah, it would be terrible for our reputation if we don't go," Abhi reminds him.

"I was just saying that because it would be rude to do that to them, but whatever floats your boat I guess."

"Honey, have I ever told how you're the only male in this household to turn out right?" Shraddha proudly tells Samrat.

"What about me?" asks Kartik.

"I married you, didn't I?"

"Wait, I'm also a male within this household," says Dharmendra.

"Eat your food dear," his wife Jaya says quickly, diverting his attention.

Mealtime at the Bakshi's: where mouths work on talking rather than chewing.

* * *

"Hey, I just got a text from Taani saying that she'll be a little later than expected," Disha informs Aditi, looking through her phone.

"Really, how come?" asks Aditi, putting her hair up in a bun as she dives into the fridge, searching for food.

"She has to go to some random gala thing with her family."

"A gala?" Aditi questions, closing the fridge door with her foot, due to her hands being occupied with jars of peanut butter and pickles.

"Yeah, like one of those super fancy balls or whatever," says Disha, as nonchalant as ever, as she takes the jars from Aditi, who sits down, and immediately opens them to start munching on their favorite snack.

"You mean like the ones with kings and queens and shit?"

"Exactly."

"Wait, Dish, explain Taani's family to me please."

"Oh, yeah, Taani's a princess. She's princess Taanisha Shekhawat Bakshi to be precise."

Aditi's jaw practically drops to the floor.

"Our roommate's a princess and you didn't think to tell me?!" she demands, yelling at the top of her lungs.

Disha almost drops her food, incredulously demanding, "What the hell is wrong with you woman?"

"Our roommate... is a princess," Aditi says, still not believing it.

"That is so freaking awesome!" she exclaims in glee only moments later.

She later decides to add, "But just to be clear, princess or not, I'm still having her cook for me."

Disha smiles. Aditi Khurana is definitely one to be star struck by anything glitzy and glamorous. She will be psyched about it, fangirl about it... whatever. But her feelings never change. When they first met, Aditi was a small town girl trying to make it big, and she was immediately in awe of Disha. Confident, stylish, beautiful and talented... she thought that Disha had it all! But that didn't determine Aditi's feelings towards Disha, which at first, were ones of the utmost disdain. Disha was stuck-up, mean, cold... and all the glamour in the world couldn't convince Aditi to actually suck up to her.

That was another thing about Aditi Khurana; she's as genuine as they get. She's not one to say or do what she thinks someone wants her to, just to get them to like her. It may seem like materialistic possessions are what draw her to someone, but personality and character are the true essentials for the Aditi Khurana stamp of approval.

"I've always wanted a big family," Aditi says out of the blue, causing Disha to come out of her own little world.

"What?"

"Well, you said that Taani has a big family, and ever since I was little, I wanted to live in a big, joint family with all my uncles and aunts and cousins."

"You should've been born in Taani's family if that's the case."

"Maybe I could've been. After all, I was adopted remember? I have no idea who my original family is."

"Princess Aditi has a nice ring to it," Disha says teasingly, causing both girls to laugh.

* * *

"Oh my god, Maya, would you stop doing that?" her older cousin Kartika commands, frustrated with Maya squinting her eyes, scrunching her eyebrows and making weird faces as she tries to put makeup on her.

"I don't know... would  _you_  stop ruining my face with products that feel gross and probably contributed to the death of some animal somewhere?" Maya fires back, causing Kartika to glare at her.

"Maya," Nikki warns her little sister, barely batting an eyelash as she's sitting on her sister's bed, scrolling through her phone.

Maya shuts up immediately.

"Kiya, you're doing her hair," Kartika tells her younger brother's girlfriend.

"I have been nothing but kind to you, how could you do that to me?"

"Hey!" an offended Maya cries out.

Nikki rolls her eyes, wondering how and why she got stuck with these children. "Would it kill you guys to hurry up? We're getting late."

"Your gown has pockets," remarks Kartika, "you don't get to complain."

"It's not my fault I'm the only practical one around here! I mean, bringing a purse is too much work if all I'm going to have is a phone."

"What you mean you're the only practical one?" an outraged Maya shouts at her sister. "I'm the one wearing boots under my dress, yet still making them pass off as acceptable footwear for an event such as this."

Both Kartika and Kiya roll their eyes, putting their heads in their hands as they sit down on Maya's bed.

"See, this is why I'm glad they're my cousins and not my actual sisters," says Kartika, a tight smile forming on her face.

"And this is why I'm glad I have Anya di for a sister," says Kiya, nodding in agreement as she rubs her temples. "We're not even  _close_  to being half as bad as these two."

"Girls," they all hear a voice call out from the entrance of Maya's room, causing them all to become like deer in headlights.

They all turn their heads, only to find Anjali Dutta, Maya and Nikki's mom, standing there with her arms folded across her chest.

Anjali walks over to her daughters, and looks from one to the other. "Last time I checked, I had a 25-year-old," she says, pointing to Nikki, "and a 22-year-old," she then points to Maya. "So please explain to me how, when and why I ended up with two toddlers."

Both Nikki and Maya start shouting at once.

"It was her fault!"

"She was the one being a brat,  _as usual_!"

"And she was the one being all 'oh I'm so great, I'm better than all of you, look at me,'  _as usual_!"

"She started it!" they both say at the same time, pointing fingers at one another.

"And now I'm ending it," Anjali says, narrowing her eyes at her daughters. "I want you all downstairs in ten minutes, and if you're not there, then I'm going to throw out all your cartons of chocolate ice-cream, every single last one of them, even the limited edition ones with brownie bits."

Both girls nod obediently at their mother, who is about to leave, but stops in her tracks.

"Love the dress Nikki," she tells her eldest child, "nice going with the pockets."

"Ha!" Nikki hisses at Maya, grinning triumphantly.

"And Maya, order a pair of those boots for me," she then tells her youngest daughter. "You're such a genius for wearing boots like that."

"Ha!" Maya whispers, getting in Nikki's face, causing her older sister to push her face aside, resulting in a mini fist-fight, which stops immediately when their mother turns around. They smile at her, like they're perfect little angels.

Joke of the century!

Before leaving, Anjali whispers to Kartika and Kiya, "I apologize for their behavior. Thank you for putting up with my crazy daughters," causing them to laugh.

The Bakshi family might be a crazy ass-backward one, but the Dutta family is no better!

* * *

"Why does Kiya look like she's going to set the world on fire?" is the first thing Taani asks when she sees the look on her best friend's, younger sister's face.

"Have you ever done Maya's hair?" Kiya says bitterly.

"Do I look crazy to you?" demands Taani, smiling sweetly at Maya, who looks like she's trying to make lasers come out of her eyes.

" _Someone_ , I'm not naming any names but it was Kartika di, decided to punish me for absolutely no reason, by having me do Maya's hair."

"Why would you do that to a poor, innocent child?" demands Taani, staring incredulously at Kartika, while at the same time looking at Kiya as if she were her child who had just overcome the greatest challenge of her life.

"Well I wasn't going to do it," is all Kartika has to say to defend herself.

"I could've dated a nice guy, with a normal family... who's an only child," muses Kiya.

"Yeah... but instead you got me," her boyfriend Keshav, aka KD, says teasingly, gently pulling her into his chest.

"Just my luck."

"Oh please, you know you love me."

"That I do."

"You two are sickeningly sweet," groans Maya, rolling her eyes.

Both KD and Kiya sigh. "You get used to her eventually," KD assures his girlfriend.

"Have you gotten used to her yet?"

"You're funny."

"Well that's the last time I ask a question," mumbles Taani, deciding to just finish drinking her champagne.

Just then Nikki and Abhi come out of nowhere with psychotic smiles on their faces.

"What the hell do you think you guys are doing?" Abhi hisses at them, trying to maintain his 'friendly' smile.

"Um, talking?" says Kiya, although it comes out as more of a question.

"Yeah, well how about you go mingle and talk to random strangers instead of amongst yourselves?" Nikki commands, her weird smile not leaving her face.

"But why?" asks KD.

" _Because_ , it's a business party, and you're here on business," Abhi informs them.

"Chop chop!" exclaims Nikki, clapping her hands obnoxiously in front of everyone's faces.

Once those two are out of earshot, Sid exclaims, "I hate it when they work together!"

"I know! They're such fun-sucking leeches!" Maya says dramatically, fist bumping Sid.

"I hate this family," remarks Taani.

"Lies!" says Kartika. "You love each and every single one of us dearly."

"Unfortunately."

"Okay, so how much does everyone want to bet that this will be a complete disaster, and we are all going to get lectured tomorrow?" asks KD, ready with his phone, already typing in his 200 rupee bet.

"100 rupees, and also, Sid and Maya will definitely be the ones to mess up," says Samrat.

"Agreed!" Kartika nods in agreement. "100 rupees from my side too."

"I second that notion," Taani raises her hand in the air, taking a break from her champagne. "And also, I bet 150 rupees."

"50 rupees says that they'll get drunk," Kiya adds in her two cents to the conversation.

"Okay, we are right here!" an outraged Sid points to both him and Maya.

Maya, on the other hand, exclaims, "You guys are such cheapskates. What is this fifty to two hundred rupees business? 500 rupees, go big or go home!"

Sid facepalms himself, groaning in frustration as he says, "Put down 10 rupees for me."

Everyone looks at him like he's grown another head.

"I'm unemployed."

Well this should be interesting…

* * *

"Hey Taani!" both Aditi and Disha exclaim as Taani enters the apartment.

"You look like shit," remarks Disha, causing Aditi to lightly smack her on the arm.

Disha simply rolls her eyes and asks, "How bad was it?"

"Oh, just wait until you read the newspaper tomorrow!" exclaims Taani, plopping herself down on the couch.

"Who even reads the newspaper anymore?" Disha asks, bewildered.

" _I_  read the newspaper" Aditi reminds her roommate.

She then turns to Taani and asks, "Okay, what happened?"

Taani snorts, shaking her head. "I need to be drunk for this," she says. Aditi and Disha exchange knowing looks; this was going to be a long night.

Taani loves her crazy ass-backward family, she really does. Most of the time. Half the time? Like a solid 0.1%. It doesn't even matter. Because family is family, and you just need to accept them, flaws and all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Armaan, Riddhima, Nikki, Abhi and Sid are all characters from a show called Dill Mil Gayye, so they are clearly not my original characters. Same with Kiya and KD, they are from a show called The Buddy Project. But pretty much everyone else is an original character of mine. Oh, and just to clarify a few things:
> 
> Rupees are the currency in India.  
> Di and bhai/bhaiya are used by younger siblings out of respect for their older siblings. Basically, they mean big sister and big brother, respectively.  
> Bhabhi - older brother's wife.  
> Chachi - paternal uncle's wife  
> Bua - dad's sister  
> Chachu - paternal uncle
> 
> "Haan, haan, has lo" means "yes, yes, keep laughing."
> 
> "Mere duffer bhai" means "my idiot brother."
> 
> "Namaste dadaji" means "hello (paternal) grandfather."
> 
> "Lo, aagayi musibat" means "here comes trouble."
> 
> "Hadd hai" - "this is the limit."
> 
> Music Inspiration: Polaroid by Imagine Dragons


End file.
